


Sharing is Caring

by waxpet



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Character Study, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-07
Updated: 2016-12-07
Packaged: 2018-09-07 03:17:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8781031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waxpet/pseuds/waxpet
Summary: Starve Venom is not happy with the new addition to Yuri's Extra Deck.





	

**Author's Note:**

> (steve voice) yeah clear wing get out

Starve Venom wasn't happy.

One would think that being reunited with his lost Synchro brother, Clear Wing, in the same deck together once more, would have made him happy. It did not. It was making him the opposite of happy.

Clear Wing's card was chafing his. It was scratchy around the edges, scraping at Starve Venom's glossy surface. The spirit of the dragon itself, too, was annoyingly close to Starve Venom, practically shoving his ugly muzzle into his face. His wings were obnoxiously bright and flashy, unlike Starve Venom's sleek, proud build. Clear Wing wasn't even that good of a monster. Starve Venom's effect was better, and as he'd proven in their duel of barely five minutes ago, he was the better monster.

And Starve Venom's fragment of Zarc was better than Clear Wing's. He was the better duelist, he wasn't bizarrely attached to his dimension's fragment of Ray (unlike _some_ fragments of Zarc), he scratched under Starve Venom's chin just right, kept his card clean and unbent, made Starve Venom the star of his deck, and, and... and... and now Starve Venom had to _share_ him. With Clear Wing.

Starve Venom had gotten used to being the centre of his master's attention, and the thought of again sharing that spot, with not only Clear Wing, but also Odd-Eyes and Dark Rebellion, ground unpleasantly against his scales. It made him click his many jaws unhappily. It made him restlessly pace. It made him sulk.

Yuri had the gall to not even notice Starve Venom's very valid and very vehement protests against having his card put right beside Clear Wing in the Extra Deck. Clear Wing had also picked up a new (disgusting) smell of motor oil in the years they'd been apart, and he was a lot uglier than Starve Venom remembered him being. Overall, Starve Venom would have appreciated it if Yuri had put Clear Wing in his pocket as a trophy of victory instead of in his deck. Yuri's deck - a vine nest of cackling, spiteful Predator Plants - had become Starve Venom's home these last few years, and now Clear Wing was _in it_ , putting his stupid claws all over Starve Venom's place. The spirits of the plants were whispering and gossiping around them, both curious and hostile towards the idea of a newcomer.

The other dragon's presence, previously quiet and morose, reached out to Starve Venom. Starve Venom flicked him away with irritation. Surprisingly, Clear Wing didn't fight him, withdrawing into himself without a response.

Oh. He was all sad and stuff about his Zarc fragment losing to Yuri. The sentiment hit uncomfortably close to home.

" _Hey._ " Starve Venom reached back out to Clear Wing, uncertain. " _What's wrong with you?_ "

" _Yugo didn't deserve this,_ " Clear Wing replied mournfully. " _He was good. He suffered so much, and I couldn't protect him._ "

" _He wasn't meant to exist,_ " Starve Venom said flatly. " _And protect him from what? Becoming whole again? What a tragic fate._ "

Clear Wing lashed his tail angrily and bared his fangs. " _I see you're still as much a bag of bad breath and sour attitude as always. From_ everything, _I meant! From every human who was horrible to him, from the poverty he lived in, and yes, from your vicious fragment! Meant to exist or not, he was mine to protect, and I failed!_ "

Starve Venom shifted uncomfortably. He covered it quickly with false bravado. " _You're stupid. And weak. No wonder you lost."_

" _Don't give me that!_ " Clear Wing snarled. " _You're just as attached to yours! You've been in a snit this whole time because you're used to him spoiling you rotten and you don't want me here taking his attention away from you._ " 

... Starve Venom didn't have anything to say to that. He turned away with an indignant sniff, mulling it over in his mind.

Being Yuri's ace monster was... nice. Starve Venom was a magnificent dragon to be feared and adored, and Yuri utilised him perfectly. In the early days, he had viewed Yuri as a means to an end, just a fragment of his true master to be sacrificed and put back together into the original. But then he'd grown attached. Slowly, without realising it, until he was in too deep to save himself. He'd become used to his card laying on Yuri's bedside table at night, listening to him mumble and toss in his sleep. He'd become comfortable sitting in Yuri's pocket through classes, had grown to relish and enjoy every duel with his new master. Yuri, both his true master and not, had become his home.

And Yuri was happy. Zarc, for all his talent and skill and fame, had never been truly happy. He had been a slave to the arena, desperately needing the attention and validation of others to be fulfilled, changing his duels, changing himself, whatever it took for them to cheer. He'd bent over far more than backwards to satisfy his audience, and in the end, that had been his undoing. The selfishness and cruelty of other human beings had ruined him, but they could never do the same to Yuri.

Yuri had inherited Zarc's face and his skill and nothing else. He dueled for himself and himself only, his happiness dependent on no other; his world needed but him, Starve Venom, and his Predator Plants. He entertained none but himself, and in that way, he was the least like Zarc than any other fragment. Starve Venom didn't know if Clear Wing's fragment had also borne Zarc's curse, but he knew for certain that the others did.

Odd-Eyes and Dark Rebellion pulsed nearby, calling to them. Yuri followed them instinctively, drawn to the other half of his soul. He had no idea that absorbing the other fragments and resurrecting Zarc would destroy him in the process, and for that, Starve Venom was sorry.

A stray few hairs stood up messily on the back of Yuri's head, mussed from his duel with Yugo. Starve Venom licked them flat, making his master presentable for his encounter with the last fragment of Zarc. Or, well, he would have, had he been corporeal. His tongue passed right through the top of Yuri's head and the hairs stayed out of place.

But the affection behind the gesture was still felt. Yuri stopped mid-step, hesitantly touching a hand to the back of his head, glancing around the empty hallway. His fingers found the wild hair and smoothed it down as he frowned, sure that he'd felt a touch. However, he brushed off the odd sensation quickly, and returned to searching for his counterpart.

" _Not meant to exist,_ " Clear Wing echoed. But he sounded like he understood.

__Starve Venom watched Yuri's back as he walked unknowingly to his end, watched the bounce of his hair, the swish of his cape. He would tolerate Clear Wing's presence for now - this next duel might be Yuri's last, and even if Clear Wing had to be there getting his attention too, Starve Venom would take what little time left he had with Yuri._ _

__He drew closer to Yuri's back, hovering above him protectively as he walks. This was not just Starve Venom's fragment of Zarc, this was his master, his friend, and he was going to miss Yuri horribly when he was gone._ _

__Maybe Zarc would retain Yuri's memory of how to scratch just right under Starve Venom's jaw._ _


End file.
